Battle Report 92: Mohsar, the Desertwalker vs. Malekus, the Burning Truth

Prologue:

Mohsar has been one of, if not the most, contentious warlock in the Circle arsenal for me.

My Circle Mentor Chandler absolutely loves this guy, and the lack of love in the Mark 3 transition is a big part of what drove him into the loving arms of Menoth.

One of the biggest proponents of this little loved Warlock, Dan Y., recently won Kingdom Con by playing a Mohsar/Wurmwood pairing that he has been advocating for for a very long time.

That, combined with the Celestial Fulcrum CID led me to spend my Saturday afternoon painting up the Desertwalker and then getting him on the table to face down the fires of Menoth.

I shamelessly stole Dan's list, and since I don't own Bloodweavers (yet), they were proxied by Reeves.


Mohsar
- Pureblood
- Pureblood
- Wyrd
- Wyrd
- Argus

Fulcrum

Gobber Chef

Wolves of Orboros
- CA
Bloodweavers

The idea is simple - the list shoots really hard, hits like a truck with Curse of Shadows when the Wolves get to go in, and has crazy assassination potential between Doppler Bark and Sands of Fate. 

Sunhammer and Mohsar's Feat keep Jack spam honest, and Curse of Shadows plus Woldwyrds is one of my favorite things to do in Circle.

This list is only going to get better with the changes to the Celestial Fulcrum, and it is a blast (albeit very tricky) to play.

I was playing into:

Malekus
- Heirophant
- Eye of Truth
- Guardian
- Reckoner
- Reckoner

Wrack
Wrack

Idrians
- CA
Choir
Rhoven and Co.

We rolled up Recon, and I won the roll off. I chose to go first, and away we went.

I made a mistake during deployment here - Mohsar should have been in the front with the front line of Wolves. 

My opponent put Prey on the Wolves, and away we went.

Circle turn 1:

Stuff basically ran.

Both Purebloods warped for Ghostly and ran up. The Wolves ran, the Wyrds ran. Mohsar moved up and cast Mirage on the Fulcrum, Sunhammer on himself, and then I decided he needed to be up closer to the fight and cast Sands of Fate. 

Unfortunately, I had not accounted for this when I was doing my Fury management earlier in the turn, and I was going to be a Fury short next turn.

I also got this sweet cinematic shot of Mohsar and the Wolves - I really need to repaint those suckers.

Menoth turn 1:

I have carefully kept everything out of the Idrian's threat ranges except for my right side Pureblood. He is able to get two 3-man CRAa into it, and they do 8 points.

He opts not to Feat, and Repositions the Guide and Chieftain back into the trench.

His jacks get Shielding (no spells) from the Choir, and Malekus looks at the pair of Wyrds before opting not to cast anything and move up.

Circle turn 2:

I cut for a Fury and upkeep both spells.

He's left two Idrians in charge range of Bloodweavers, so I decide to go in with their Blood Burst ability.

His clumped up troops fall en masse, as two Bloodweavers kill off seven Idrians.

Pureblood spray on the right kills the Guide, the Fulcrum nails the Idrian on the hill and leaps into the Chieftain, and by the time the dust (or Sand) settles, he's down to a solitary Idrian.

This is actually very important for this list - the less attacks your opponent has, the better Pillar of Salt gets.

I run Wolves up and then cover them with three Pillars of Salt as Mohsar moves into the zone and Maltreats the Argus for a couple damage.

Menoth turn 2:

His right hand Reckoner is in aim range of the Pureblood, and between the Flare from that gun and quite a few Open Fires on it from Malekus, that Pureblood nearly dies.

The Guardian comes in to contest, and Eye of Truth moves up behind him.

All of the Jacks were battled this turn, and they all took a few damage from Sunhammer. 

I also just have to note something here - mark where your stuff is and what in game effects are present. I would have completely forgotten the Pureblood had crippled aspects if I hadn't marked them with these great little widgets.  It's just as important as keeping track of Fury, so mark it!

(In advance of the hordes of questions - you can get these at brokenegggames.com)

Circle turn 3:

It's go time! I upkeep Sunhammer but drop Mirage.

The Bloodweavers run, one to within 8 inches of Eye, one to the toe of the zone, and one to charge the remaining Idrian, which explodes. 

Mohsar activates, Sands of Fate up to the Weaver closest to Eye, lands a Curse of Shadows on the Warjack, maltreats a Wyrd, and then Sands of Fates back to the edge of the zone and pops his feat. 

The Pureblood aims and gets the single dice three it needs on Eye, doing about 5 damage. 

The Wyrd activates and does a few more. 

I pop the Wolves Mini-Feat and charge Eye and the Guardian. Damage rolls are awful, and Eye Survives despite seven charging wolves. 

I then realize that I have screwed up colossally here, and the Fulcrum should have activated first and blasted the Warjack. 

I end up losing a ton of my Wolves to sprays from the Fulcrum and the other Pureblood, but Eye does finally go down. 

Menoth turn 3:

My opponent allocates three to the Guardian and one to the right hand Reckoner. 

Rhoven and buddies charge my Wolves. The Guard both connect, but Rhoven misses. This is important since he was going to Battle Wizard an AOE onto the Guardian to clear him off. 

Instead, Malekus moves up and sprays both Wolves off after popping his Feat. 

Choir sing Battle again, and the right hand Reckoner moves up and hits the left Pureblood, Flaring it and doing good damage. 

The Guardian charges it and crit pitches it back into Mohsar. The Pureblood dies, and the objective nearly does as well. 

 

Circle turn 4:

A quick proxy base measurement reassures me that a Wolf can get to within 2 inches of Malekus without taking a free strike. 

Mohsar drops Sunhammer now that it has done about 25 damage over the game and does not force to stand. 

The Argus riles, and Mohsar activates, forfeiting movement. He maltreats the Argus, and then Sands of Fates to the wolf near Malekus. He Doppler Barks the warcaster, and then heals the Pureblood's Spirit before bashing Malekus a couple of times and Sands of Fating out to the last Bloodweaver. 

Wyrd number 1 eats through his two Shield Guards, and Wyrd number two seals the deal, killing Malekus. 

Victory for the Druids!

Post-Game Thoughts:

I have NO idea how to play this list yet. It's extremely tricky! There are lots of order of activation issues, lots of positioning things (I felt I did fairly well there), and tons and tons of angles to consider. 

It is a ton of fun bouncing Mohsar in and out of the fray with Sands of Fate and just being a crazy Desert Ninja, and the ability to place a Doppler bark 14 inches from a Wolf or 16 inches from a Bloodweaver is crazy!

Speaking of Bloodweavers, I was incredibly impressed with how well they do against low ARM infantry. If that style of list makes a resurgence, I will definitely be getting myself a unit of the ladies. 

I've got a bit of a hobby thing to post tomorrow (I hope), and more battle reports should be coming out early next week. 

Until then, thanks for reading!